Collapse of apartment building in Egypt kills 25

Egyptians stand in rubble after an eight story building collapsed in Alexandria, Egypt, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Egypt’s official MENA news agency says at least fourteen people have been killed. It was not immediately known what caused the building to collapse, but violations of building specifications have been blamed in the past for similar accidents. (AP Photo)

An eight-story apartment building collapsed Wednesday in the port city of Alexandria, killing at least 25 people in the second deadly accident to hit the country in as many days, according to police and health officials.

Mohammed el-Sharqawy, a senior official at the Health Ministry, said at least 12 people also were injured and that rescue teams were searching for survivors under the rubble. Military police from a nearby naval base cordoned off the area to help the rescue operation.

The collapse came a day after 19 police conscripts were killed when the last car of the train they were riding in jumped the tracks and smashed into another train just outside Cairo.

The wreck sparked protests in several cities where demonstrators complained that the new government is failing to carry out reforms and overhaul the nation's deteriorating public services.

President Mohammed Morsi's government has blamed Tuesday's train accident on what officials say is nearly 30 years of corruption and misrule under Mubarak. Transport Minister Hatem Abdel-Lateef told another news conference that overhauling the country's railways would cost 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.3 billion), a hefty sum for nation reeling from two years of political and economic turmoil.

A taxi also crashed with a moving train in a low income area in Giza on Wednesday, killing four passengers in the cab, including a child, security officials said. According to an initial investigation, the taxi rammed through a ground-level rail crossing barrier and was hit by the coming train.

The taxi driver survived but fled the scene, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Hundreds of residents gathered at the site of the crash.

It was not immediately clear what caused the building to collapse in a poor district of Alexandria, but violations of building specifications have been blamed for similar accidents in the past. The governor of Alexandria, Mohammed Abbas Atta, told Egypt's official news agency that the building was constructed without a permit.

Abul Ezz el-Hariri, an opposition lawmaker from Alexandria, warned that hundreds of buildings in the city could face the same fate, but lax law enforcement following the ouster two years ago of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak means that no action is being taken against building violations.

Residents complain that owners of farmland on the city's outskirts have taken advantage of the chaos and near lawlessness that followed the overthrow of the former president and illegally sold their land to developers who built shoddy apartment blocks.

Similar violations have taken place across much of the country. Pointing to the magnitude of the problem, Housing Minister Tareq Wafeeq told reporters that a total of 318,000 illegal constructions went up in 23 of Egypt's 27 provinces between 2009 and 2012.

Alexandria's security chief, police Maj. Gen. Abdel-Mawgood Lutfi, said the building was constructed five years ago and had 24 apartments.

That the building collapsed early in the day meant that most tenants were home. Police evacuated residents of two adjacent buildings out of concern that the collapse may have caused structural damage to them.

The collapse could stoke criticism of Morsi's administration. Critics accuse the post-revolutionary government of failing to do more to reform the nation and fix public services.

Two months ago, 50 children died when a train rammed into their school bus in southern Egypt. That tragedy also sparked a storm of criticism of Morsi. The Islamist leader has struggled to deal with major problems, including an ailing economy, tenuous security, a slumping tourism industry and seemingly endless political turmoil since taking office in June.

Late Wednesday, Morsi's administration sought to defuse the mounting criticism, declaring its solidarity with the victims of the train wreck and the building collapse. Spokesman Yasser Ali said the presidency offered its condolences to the victims' families and pledged to ensure that they and the survivors received the best available care.